


Field Notes

by shadowmaat



Series: Game of Thrones: Alderaan [5]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Field work, M/M, leeches, long-suffering undergrad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-29
Updated: 2018-01-29
Packaged: 2019-03-11 04:01:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13516167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadowmaat/pseuds/shadowmaat
Summary: Maul loves Alderaan, but there are some parts he'd rather not experience and some inhabitants he wished didn't love him quite so much.





	Field Notes

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SLWalker](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SLWalker/gifts).



**Day 1**

_I’ve lost my left boot to the muck. Excuse me, I lost it to the hydric soil layer in the Lerantha Swamp. I was able to obtain several samples for classification and also discovered a leech that had somehow managed to slither into my boot and wrap around my leg. It has been removed and preserved as per course regulations. I had the foresight to pack a second pair of boots for this excursion. Hopefully I won’t need a third._

Maul took a deep breath and immediately regretted it. While he understood the point of swamps in a planet’s ecological system his first experience with one was proving far from pleasant. The stench was pervasive; a mix of rotting vegetation, stagnant water, and sulfur. It felt as if something had crawled up his nose and died. Messily.

He was currently camped in a decaying tree that he was reasonably certain could bear his weight for the night and which had the benefit of not being quite as wet as everything else. He also hoped it was free of leeches. He’d found four more on various parts of his anatomy over the course of the day and would need at least one more check before he felt safe enough to sleep.

He’d been prepared for an onslaught of biting insects and had even brought a bottle of environmentally-friendly repellent, but they hadn’t bothered him. Instead it was leeches. He reached up to scratch his neck and found another one. Ugh.

**Day 2**

_I’ve lost another boot and collected more soil samples. I’ve also found several of the plants on my list as well as numerous birds, toads, and frogs- one of which makes its home in dead trees and has a piercing call that continues all night. Still working to identify it. I’ve also seen a pair of mating swamp dragons, several clouds of flare-wings, and six more leeches. I’m not sure I packed enough bacta for this trip._

Maul dabbed bacta on another suction mark and reminded himself that he needed to complete this course for credit. He’d snapped a few shots of the latest batch of leeches and sent them to his professor, who had actually  _commed him back_  yelling about possibly-extinct species and the importance of capturing as many alive as he could. That, at least, wouldn’t be a problem since it seemed that his blood was equivalent to a prime roast for the little vermin. In fact his professor was getting a team together to come and collect the samples Maul had collected. He had high hopes that this would earn him enough goodwill that he’d be able to cut his excursion short and go home. He missed Bail. And he had a feeling he might owe his lover an apology for all the sucker bites he’d left on him. Having a few of his own courtesy of the Lerantha Swamp was proving far from enjoyable.

**Day 4**

_Boots still mismatched but intact. Hooked up with Professor Irwin to hand off live specimens of Southern Banded Leeches, which haven’t been seen by sentients since the Cold War. I will indeed be earning bonus points for this as well as a byline in a forthcoming article, but Professor Irwin stressed the importance of me staying in the field a few days longer. At least he brought me more bacta and packets of juice to compensate the blood loss._

As part of the documentation process, several pictures of Maul’s injuries had been deemed necessary and he was assured that they would be tastefully done, anonymous (as if someone with his coloration could ever be anonymous), and only ever appear in the Journal of Science. Maul hoped he was right. He also wished the leeches could find less awkward places to latch on, though he did receive a few comments on his “musculature” from the photographers.

**Day 6**

_Why are they called “field” notes when everything here is either underwater or is so oversaturated it might as well be underwater? The rain is not helping. This is the second day of it._

He was exhausted. His head was throbbing. He’d killed numerous Southern Banded Leeches and some of their less-endangered cousins. Professor Irwin kept comming him to ask if he’d consider extending his stay in the swamp and maybe agree to having an entire team camped around him. He sent back a polite but firm “no.”

**Day 7**

_Dawn was heralded by a flock of banshee birds, although they were early by a few hours. Samples, specimens, and holo recordings have been sent off and I called in to reschedule extraction since I’m already awake. I think the leeches know I’m leaving. I fear they may try to stop me, but I’m prepared to do what I must to get out of here. Next semester I’m choosing fields. Or mountains. Or anything else. They don’t have leeches in space, right?_

Coming home had never been more of a relief. His reunion with Bail had been cut short by the discovery of two more small leeches doing their best to blend in with the black of his- well, anyway, instead of showing Bail how glad he was to see him again Maul wound up resetting the sonic shower to a frequency that would incapacitate the leeches without causing him too much more damage. It made his horns ache, but it was worth it to be sure he was leech-free.

The sonic was followed by a bacta soak at Bail’s orders, followed by a soak in the hot tub, where Bail had the good sense to join him.

“So what you’re saying is that we should go camping in the swamp sometime?” 

Maul growled at him. “If you take me to another swamp you won’t be leaving it alive.”

Bail laughed. “Perhaps we’ll just spend the weekend in instead.”

Buoyed by the water, Maul settled in Bail’s lap and started demonstrating his approval.


End file.
